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PEDAL SNAPSHOT � Phil Traina
Key Features
Two MN3005 bucket brigade chips
Save 3 presets or use a MIDI controller to have up to 122 presets
CHASE BLISS TONAL RECALL
There has been quite a bit of hype surrounding the new Chase Bliss Tonal Recall Delay, and rightfully so. The first sentence in the owners manual is,“ Forget everything you know about analog delay.” No truer words have been said.
The look of the Tonal Recall is similar to the other Chase bliss pedals. It can be sensory overload at first glance. We will try and break it down as concise and simply as we can.
The Tonal Recall starts off with two new stock MN3005 bucket brigade chips. These chips were made famous by the vintage memory man units. Equipped with pretty much every tweakable option you could think of, this unit takes you on a magic carpet ride into the future, future, future. On the face of the tonal recall we have a variety of knobs to turn: Tone / Ramp, Mix, Time, and Regen handle the delay portion, as well as Rate and Depth to dial in the modulation. The 4 switches handle the six note divisions. The Short, Long, and Both switch lets you dial in vintage short Boss DM2 style delay, the Long setting carries on the Memory Man style, and the Both setting blends the short and long together in atmospheric and wild combinations. The Wave switch breaks up the type of modulation, which adds a ton of flexibility. Yes, we also have a Bypass and Tap Tempo / Hold. The dip switches let you control the parameters via ramping or expression.
This pedal is smart; it knows when you plug an expression pedal into it. Save your favorite 3 presets or use a MIDI controller to have up to 122 presets. I said in the Warped Vinyl review that I could go on for pages talking about these pedals, but I don’ t want to ramble. I leave you with this … Every time I hold a Chase Bliss pedal it screams quality. The smaller footprint makes it extremely pedalboard friendly, but the tones that come out of this box are unreal. If you are looking for a delay pedal that covers a ton of ground, sounds great, and has all the options you could ever want, this may be the box for you.
Street Price: $ 399 www. ChaseBlissAudio. com
Key Features
Level, Drive, Tone( Tilt EQ) and Boost Knobs
Low Cut & Clip Switches
PETTYJOHN ELECTRONICS CHIME
Pettyjohn Electronics hit the stage with the Predrive back a couple years ago. That really laid the ground work for what they are doing today. After the Predrive came the Pettydrive, which I reviewed a while back. Now the Version 2 Pettydrive is available. All great boxes. I’ m focusing today on the Chime pedal, which is one side of the Pettydrive with a couple modifications.
On the front of the box there are a couple of switches and four knobs. Level, Drive, Tone( Tilt EQ) and Boost. The switches are labeled Low-cut and Clip. The Tilt EQ tone knob is super useful, and the Variance and Sweep is large enough that you definitely will find your sweet spot. The Low Cut adds or cuts bass, depending on how you look at it. The Boost control is interesting; it’ s like you are hitting the pedal with a clean boost. I enjoyed the different timbers I was able to achieve by the amount of gain hitting the front end. The clipping switch has LED clipping, Germanium clipping, and both. The LED had more headroom and was clearer sounding to my ears. The Germanium could get pretty raunchy sounding and the blend was a happy smoother medium. Definitely try the Chime on 18v.
I remember texting with Stephen Pettyjohn after I got the Pettydrive in for review. I told him the chime side was one of the best sounding low gain OD’ s I’ ve played in a long time. I am so pleased that Pettyjohn came out with the single pedals for the lovers of either side. The Chime has everything that the original in the Pettydrive had plus more flexibility and gain. Always built with studio grade audiophile components, and as tough as a tank. If you are looking for a pedal that can go from sweet boost to edge of fuzz, this is the box. I think Pettyjohn will be around for years to come.
Street Price: $ 229 www. PettyjohnElectronics. com
44 Sep � Oct 2016 CollectibleGuitar. com